Valentín Mariano José Castellanos Giménez (born 3 October 1998), known as Taty Castellanos, is an Argentine professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

club

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

and the Argentina national team.

Club career

Early career

As a youth, Castellanos was rejected by both River Plate and

Lanús Lanús () is the capital of Lanús Partido, Buenos Aires Province in Argentina. It lies just south of the capital city Buenos Aires, in the Greater Buenos Aires conurbation, metropolitan area. The List of cities in Argentina, city has a populati ...

. Castellanos started his club career in the youth academy of

Universidad de Chile The University of Chile () is a public research university in Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the co ...

. He made his senior team debut in the

2017 Copa Sudamericana The 2017 Copa CONMEBOL Sudamericana was the 16th edition of the CONMEBOL Sudamericana (also referred to as the ''Copa Sudamericana'', or ), South America's secondary club football tournament organized by CONMEBOL. Argentinian club Independiente ...

against

Corinthians The First Epistle to the Corinthians () is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-author, Sosthenes, and is addressed to the Christian church in C ...

playing 14 minutes. He then moved to

Torque In physics and mechanics, torque is the rotational analogue of linear force. It is also referred to as the moment of force (also abbreviated to moment). The symbol for torque is typically \boldsymbol\tau, the lowercase Greek letter ''tau''. Wh ...

on a one-year loan in July 2017. While on loan, he scored two goals in 11 appearances and helped the club win the Segunda Division title and secure promotion to Uruguay's top flight. On 1 July 2018, his move from

was made permanent.

New York City FC

On 27 July 2018, Castellanos joined

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

side

New York City FC New York City Football Club (often referred to as NYCFC) is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in New York City. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern C ...

on loan until the end of the 2018 season. In his first match with New York City FC, he started and scored a goal against

Vancouver Whitecaps FC Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional Association football, soccer club based in Vancouver. The Whitecaps compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The MLS ite ...

. NYCFC exercised their option to buy Castellanos on 29 November 2018, ahead of the 2019 season. In 2019, Castellanos played an integral role in New York City's attack, scoring 11 times and adding seven assists in 30 matches. This form helped NYCFC finish atop the Eastern Conference standings and qualify for their first

CONCACAF Champions League The CONCACAF Champions Cup, formerly known as CONCACAF Champions League (2008–2023), is an international association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for clubs from North America, Central America, ...

. In 2020, Castellanos declined in his production, scoring six goals and adding three assists in 22 matches during a season shortened by the

COVID-19 Pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Castellanos suffered from an inability to finish chances as he had an xG/90 of 0.65, but ended the season with G/90 of only 0.40. NYCFC would finish fifth in the Eastern Conference standings. During the first round of the 2020 MLS Cup Playoffs Castellanos had his initial penalty in a shootout vs. Orlando City saved, but VAR overturned the call due to goalkeeper

Pedro Gallese Pedro David Gallese Quiroz (born 23 February 1990) is a Peruvian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Major League Soccer club Orlando City and the Peru national team, which he captains. Club career Universidad San Martín P ...

leaving the goal line early. He scored his second penalty but NYCFC lost 6–5 in the shootout, eliminating them from the playoffs. Castellanos was able to finish much more consistently during the

2021 season 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, becoming only the fifth player in MLS history to score in each of their club's first four matches. Shortly after this milestone, on 13 May 2021, Castellanos signed a new deal with NYCFC through 2025. Castellanos again played an integral role in New York City's attack throughout the 2021 season. He significantly improved his G/90 to 0.62 and raised his xG/90 to 0.70 showing improvement in his movement, creation ability, and finishing. He was especially good near the season's conclusion, scoring 12 goals in NYCFC's last 14 matches. During this stretch, he was awarded MLS Player of the Month for August and the NYCFC Player of the Month for both August and September. He ended the season as the team's leading scorer with 19 goals and added eight assists, winning the

MLS Golden Boot The MLS Golden Boot (currently commercially termed "Audi Golden Boot") has been awarded since the 2005 Major League Soccer season, 2005 season to Major League Soccer's regular–season leading scorer. The award replaced the MLS Scoring Champion ...

over

DC United D.C. United is an American professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Domestically, the club has won four MLS Cups (league championships), four Suppor ...

's Ola Kamara on the assist tiebreaker. Castellanos also led the league in shots and shots on target with 132 and 57, respectively. Castellanos scored in all three of his 2021 MLS Cup Playoff appearances, including the first goal of the 2021 MLS Cup, which NYCFC won on penalties, giving Castellanos the first domestic trophy of his career.

Girona (loan)

On 25 July 2022, Castellanos joined newly promoted

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

club

Girona Girona (; ) is the capital city of the Province of Girona in the autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 106,476 in 2024, but the p ...

on a season-long loan. On 25 April 2023, he scored four goals for Girona in their 4–2 victory against

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

, making him the first player to score four against Real Madrid in a league match since December 1947, when Esteban Echevarría scored five goals for

Oviedo Oviedo () or Uviéu (Asturian language, Asturian: ) is the capital city of the Principality of Asturias in northern Spain and the administrative and commercial centre of the region. It is also the name of the municipality that contains th ...

in a 7–1 win.

Lazio

On 21 July 2023, Castellanos joined

side

for an undisclosed fee.

International career

In October 2019, Castellanos was called up for the first time to the

Argentina national under-23 football team The Argentina Olympic football team (Argentina U-23 since 1992) represents Argentina in international football competitions during Olympic Games and Pan American Games. The selection is limited to players under the age of 23, except three overage ...

by coach

Fernando Batista Fernando Ariel Batista (born 20 August 1970) is an Argentine football manager and former player who played as a defender. He is the current manager of the Venezuela national team. Playing career Born in Buenos Aires, Batista started his playi ...

for two friendly matches against

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. However, he debuted during the

2020 CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic Tournament The 2020 CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic Tournament was the 13th edition of the CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic Tournament, the quadrennial, international, age-restricted association football, football tournament organised by the CONMEBOL, Confederación Sudamericana ...

, which Argentina managed to win. In August 2024, Castellanos received his first call-up for the senior national team for the games against

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

and

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

for the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. He debuted on 5 September the same year against the former opponent, coming on as a substitute to

Julián Alvarez Julián Alvarez (; born 31 January 2000) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Atlético Madrid and the Argentina national team. Alvarez began his football career in his native Argentina, where he was an a ...

in the 89th minute that resulted in a 3–0 victory for Argentina.

Personal life

Castellanos' father is a naturalized Chilean, and through him he is eligible to play for the Chile national team.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Torque *

Uruguayan Segunda División The Segunda División Profesional is the second division of professional football in Uruguay, established in 1942. The league is sometimes referred to as ''Primera B''. In 1942, the Segunda División was established to replace the amateur Uruguaya ...

: 2017 New York City *

MLS Cup MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Playoffs. The game is held in November or December and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Confere ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

Argentina Olympic *

CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic Tournament The CONMEBOL Preolímpico () is an international association football event in the South America region organized by CONMEBOL. It is the qualification tournament for the football at the Summer Olympics, football tournament at the Olympic Games. ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

Individual *NYCFC Player of the Month: August 2021, September 2021 * MLS Player of the Month: October/November 2020, August 2021 *

MLS Best XI The MLS Best XI is an annual acknowledgment of the best eleven players in Major League Soccer. The selection is determined by a collection of media, players, and MLS club technical staffs. Winners Appearances by player The following players ...

References

External links

Profile
at the SS Lazio website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Castellanos, Taty 1998 births Living people Footballers from Mendoza, Argentina Argentine men's footballers Argentina men's under-20 international footballers Argentina men's international footballers Olympic footballers for Argentina Argentine people of Chilean descent Men's association football midfielders Club Universidad de Chile footballers Montevideo City Torque players New York City FC players Girona FC players SS Lazio players Uruguayan Segunda División players Uruguayan Primera División players Major League Soccer players La Liga players Serie A players Argentine expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Chile Expatriate men's footballers in Uruguay Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Chile Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Uruguay Argentine expatriate sportspeople in the United States Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Spain Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Italy 21st-century Argentine sportsmen